This invention relates to multicast server apparatus and more especially it relates to such apparatus for use in asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches.
ATM switches serve for the asynchronous transmission of digital data cells which include address data inter alia, in addition to a data packet pay load.
Multicast server apparatus which is sometimes described as point to multipoint apparatus, is used to route a data packet pay load to a plurality of different addresses.
Many data transmission network services require a multicast server capability and such services include video conferencing, video lecture calls, distributed databases and broadcast signalling at a user network interface. In order to meet these requirements a switching network must be capable of providing a multicast capability at the ATM level,